Sands of Mars
by Catz1112
Summary: Waking in the skies over Ariadne; is it a new beginning for Reinforce, or a continuation of the tale of woe for the new Mistress of the Book of Darkness?
1. Chapter 1

**Hi all! So... I know that somewhere there's a note on Another Universe that said I wouldn't pursue any other stories until that one was finished... But sadly... I lied.  
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**This plot bunny has just been bugging me for quite some time... and demanded to be written. However! I promise that despite my extended absence and lack of updating Another Universe... It won't affect the rate at which I put out chapters for it. **

**Speaking of which, if you're getting an email about this and hoping that it was for Another Universe... I do apologize, and if you do read this anyways, I'll tell you now that the next chapter of it is currently being beta'd and I will be posting it soon.**

**Anyways, this story... is a crossover because I'm a huge fan of the unexplored potential of Reinforce from MSLN, but it's also going to be me looking at a possible interpretation of... well, I can't really say it without spoilers for the Negima plotline, and so I won't... (even if you haven't gotten to it yet... what are you doing? Get back to reading the manga!)**

**It is going to be much more Negima than anything else, merely with Reinforce along for the ride. And since this story has not yet been planned out far beyond this chapter, I'm happy to accept suggestions as to characters, possible plot points, etc etc... All within reason of course, the story is mine in the end and I'll take it where I want to go with it.  
**

**And enough out of me, I just wanted to post this to see if there might be interest in it, and to prove that I'm still alive... somehow... after a brutal semester of school.**

**-C1112**

* * *

_How long have I been here?_

That recurring thought. She had long since lost count of it, and even her determination to not ask it faltered. The ritual should have ended her, why it hadn't was a mystery that even the wandering of her mind in the timeless dark had not brought any sort of logical conclusion.

_Or perhaps I do know what this is. This is punishment for my sins. For allowing myself to be used, for losing control, for the countless deaths I am responsible for. How many innocents have I killed since the Wars? How many worlds did I help lay waste to? The numbers don't matter, even one would be too many. Even if it was my master's meddling that corrupted me, I was the one that allowed that corruption to take hold, to fester and grow to the point where I couldn't even hold it in check. Where I couldn't even keep from slowly killing my true mistress._

She raised her left hand, red eyes flaring in anger at the blood red claw, the bladed teeth, the heavy device that clung to her forearm was all that seemed to remain of NachtWal. That part of the ritual had gone the way it was intended to at the very least, so even if she found herself reappearing once more, she would be in no danger of causing any more massacres.

_No longer am I the Book of Darkness. I am the Tome of the Night Sky once more, and I always will be. Never again will I allow myself to fall, I swear this to you, Hayate, my Guardian Knights, Nanoha, Fate. The pain that I put you through will never happen again. I promise, even if it means that I remain here for eternity, I will be what I should have been. I am no longer the control program, or even the unison device of the Tome, I am Reinforce._

"_There is no such thing as eternity!"_

Her lips quirked as the words of the little girl flashed through her mind. _So young, and yet wise, even if mistaken it would seem._

The girl was naïve, hopelessly so. After seeing the wars of ancient Belka, and then the self-serving nature of countless masters during her time as the Book of Darkness, she knew that even with all of the power that girl had, she wouldn't be able to prevent every evil act. Reinforce knew that it would be a rude awakening for her the moment that she came up against someone of equal power, or even stronger than she was without Nanoha's sense of morality, or reluctantly doing evil.

Shutting her eyes, she resigned herself to the silence of the abyss, trying once more to cut off all thoughts, to simply _be._ For as long as possible. Anything to keep her thoughts from turning darker in contemplation of an eternity of nothing.

And so she slept...

_**June 13th, 2143, (Mundus Vetus Calendar) 1833 hrs, City-State of Ariadne, Mundus Magicus**_

Red eyes flashed open at the external stimuli. Her senses, so long restricted by the void she'd found herself in suddenly flashed within her brain, winds were howling in her ears, gravity pulling mercilessly upon her as she flashed downwards, seeming more a black and silver streak in the skies before she plunged into a thick blanket of clouds.

"Sleipnir."

Reacting instinctively, she uttered the spell, six black wings bursting into existence behind her. Her eyes went wide as the impulse and levitation spells they represented failed to slow her descent.

_Has it truly been so long that I've forgotten how to fly?_

The crimson eyes narrowed as she forced herself to concentrate, working feverishly to gain control of her descent as she felt droplets of water impacting against the defensive spells that constituted her Knight Armor. _I must be at terminal velocity if they're striking with enough force to activate the barriers._

A grim smile quirked her lips at the unintentional jinx that she might have placed upon herself. After another moment, she burst out of the clouds, finding herself greeted to a view of a city centered around a rather large hill, about two kilometers beneath her. _Two kilometers to relearn how to fly, this should be exciting..._

And then she realized why she was having trouble. None of the Tome's programs were responding, and she seemed to be critically low on mana.

Add to that the fact that she had materialized in a world without a master having collected all 666 pages worth of mana, she was quite confused flying blindly on her own with no fuel.

Lifting her left hand ahead of herself, all while still attempting to fly, she summoned the book into existence and waved the gilded leather cover open a gasp of shock escaping her at the name showing the master the book was registered to.

_Well, that explains the lack of a master. 'Registered Mistress: Reinforce Eins' That's quite the change. _Waving the Tome back out of existence, she refocused on trying to fly. She managed, to a degree. A curiously whale-like object loomed directly within her path, and she managed to roll mostly out of the way, only clipping the tail of what clearly was a metal construct, an airship of some sort, powered by magic unlike any she'd felt before.

Mentally apologizing for the damage she must have done based on the spike in mana usage she felt from her Knight Armor draining still more of her critically low reserves, she hurtled on, eyes scanning the city below for a place to land._ Or rather, crash, seeing as I don't have the mana to bleed off enough speed..._

And then she spotted it. On the hill, a relatively open area, even if it seemed to be partially occupied despite the storm. It was an artificial field, built atop the buildings further down the hill. The figures she'd seen were lined up in square formations, thankfully in such a way to leave her enough room for what would clearly be a landing that would require a stretch of runway.

She'd clearly been spotted, as those who'd been standing in front of the formations summoned armor and took to the skies on staves. Amplified voices thundered, audible over the rain and wind from the mostly uncontrolled flight, not that it helped any as she couldn't seem to understand a word of it.

The meaning was clearly understood shortly after however, as weapons were drawn, and what must have been hundreds of bolts of lightning and wind were flung her way. _The one decent open space seems to be restricted..._

There was power in the attacks that were launched her way, forcing her to expend still more of her precious mana as she raised a hand ahead of her, summoning a triangular shield ahead of herself. A sadly underpowered one she discovered as the spells impacted, quickly cracking, and then shattering the shield. Several of the bolts of lightning struck her head on, the last managing to breach the defenses of her armor, sending a weak jolt through her body, partially numbing her.

She hurtled past the mages who'd attacked her without a reply, or any time for them to launch another attack. Her focus was solely upon the grassy field, hoping that it would be able to take away some of the force of the coming impact. Both hands moved ahead of her as she pumped the last of her mana into a black semi-spherical barrier that bit deep into the rain-soaked ground, ripping out a deep gouge in the soil before she felt her consciousness beginning to fade, her elbows buckling before the barrier failed. She let out a cry of pain as she hit the ground, and bounced with all the elegance of a ragdoll before hitting grass once more, fortunately in such a manner that had her rolling, even though she let out another cry as she felt her right arm breaking along with several fingers of her right hand, her left thankfully protected for the most part by her device.

She panted heavily as she came to a stop, somehow on her back, staring up at the dark clouds, blinking as she felt the rain impacting her skin directly, and feeling the wet ground soaking into the fabric of her shirt and skirt, her Armor and wings having faded upon the exhaustion of her mana. She winced as she turned her head, watching some of the armored figures landing nearby, curious bladed lances pointed at her fallen form. She blinked as she heard more words from the closest, though they sounded muffled, as if the speaker were even farther away. Her own voice failed as she tried to reply, weakly lifting her head before her vision darkened, falling limp back to the ground.

_**July 20th, 2143, 0520 hrs, Ariadne's Grandmaster's office, Ariadne, Mundus Magicus**_

Emily Sevensheep, Grandmaster of Ariadne, gazed out at the sunrise as the warm rays lit the city below. If nothing else, her office certainly did have quite the view. Even better than the one from her home, a little further down the hill near the Monroe Mage Knight Academy.

A wistful smile came to her lips at the thought of her old partner. "I've lasted as Grandmaster for forty years without your care, Beatrix. It seems that you were finally able to teach me a thing or two and have it stick."

A hand came up to a lock of her free-flowing still mostly silver-free blonde hair, twirling it around a finger as she had so many years before, back when they had still been cadets. Her smile widened a little as the memories of her time in the Academy with Beatrix, Collette, and of course Ayase Yue. She let out a quiet chuckle at the antics that they had managed to get into, particularly a certain broom rally that had determined that the four of them would be going to New Ostia for the festival celebrating the end of the Great War.

A small chuckle escaped her as she remembered. "How foolish could you be, taking a shortcut through the forest and running into a Griffin Dragon... Only to be saved by the Dunce Duo that had managed to strip you. It's a wonder that I managed to live this long as stupid as I could be."

"Aw, don't be like that, Class Rep! You weren't stupid, you just weren't thinking clearly!"

Emily winced before turning to face the owner of the familiar voice. "Knight-Commander Farandole, as irreverent as ever."

She smirked at the wounded expression that flashed on the Knight-Commander's face. The dog-woman's floppy ears twitched before she adopted a pouting expression, emerald eyes shining in the morning sun. "Augh! Formality! The bane of my existence! You know I don't like titles unless it's someone from the Mage Knights..."

"It's been more than a century since we were cadets, Collette, I promise to stop using your title if you stop calling me 'class rep.' Now then, what brings you up here so early in the morning?"

Smiling at her old friend, she stepped over to one of the sinfully comfortable chairs before she plopped down on it, seemingly not caring if the sky-blue uniform she wore ended up wrinkled. "Reports I'm receiving, sadly. War seems next to inevitable, Empress Theodora is doing what she can to keep the Hellas Empire in line, but Imperial forces have been... less than accommodating thanks to the Megalomesembrian Confederacy's... hardliner attitude. There have been a number of border skirmishes between small units, and even a fleet engagement a bit closer to Ariadne than I'd prefer."

Emily returned to her own seat, leaning back as she sighed. "Megalomesembria has been calling for us to sign an alliance with them as well... with threats of dire consequences should we attempt to remain neutral in so dire of circumstances. And while Theo has assured me that the Empire will not take any hostile action against Ariadne, I've heard some... unpleasant rumors regarding some contingency plans that Imperial war hawks have been advocating should the Confederacy move against us. Tell me, Collette, how do you think we'll fare against the Confederacy when they make their move?"

That brought a frown to even the ever cheerful Knight-Commander. "The Mage Knights are ready, even our cadets, at least those third year and up, I'd be confident in sending against any Megalomesembrian troops save for the Heavy Knights. I wouldn't want to send any of our troops save for the Valkyrie Brigade. Although, personally I'd rather we leave pounding the heavies to the fleet, but I doubt we'll see them anyways. The Senate is going to be far too cautious to let their elites go just to take care of Ariadne, after all, any conflict with us will give the 'evil empress' a perfect opportunity to attack. However, as good a fight as we could put up, I'm afraid it wouldn't be enough. If they're willing to accept the losses, and the risk of a preemptive attack by the Empire, there's nothing that we can do to hold back the entirety of the Confederacy's forces; although if we use the new ships we'll certainly be able to give them the fight of their lives, one that would cement Ariadne's reputation for centuries to come."

"No, the new ships are not to be used. Even if Ariadne falls, they won't be used for combat. I want preparations made for them to be able to evacuate our civilians though. As well as as many cadets as possible. They were designed to be able to support us for the coming end of Mundus Magicus, but they'll also serve quite nicely to evacuate nearly all of our population."

Collette simply nodded, a far cry from her earlier starry eyed admirer of the Mage Knights. No, she truly was a well seasoned commander who had earned her current posting in the aftermath of the Second War, some fifty years earlier. That one had been instigated by the Megalomesembrian Senate just as the war looming seemed to be.

They didn't like the thought that the demi-humans of the Hellas Empire were using up copious resources in an effort to run projects to try to sustain Mundus Magicus, and when the last of those had failed, to find methods to support demi-human life outside of the magical world, the first of which had come to fruition with the first visit of a demi-human to Mundus Vetus in 2085. It was made all the worse in the eyes of the bigoted humans of the Confederacy that it had been none other than the then-Third Princess of the Empire, Theodora to visit Meridiana Academy in Wales.

Within a week of her return, Megalomesembria declared war and had brought it's full might to bear upon the Empire. The Empire should have fared better than it did, but the Confederacy had broken several arms limitations treaties that had held since the end of the Great War when both sides had been brought to the negotiating table by the fabled Ala Rubra and the Royal house of Vespertatia, despite the destruction wrought by both sides over the heavy fighting in the small kingdom, and even the destruction of the floating capital city of Ostia.

It was the treachery of the Confederacy that had helped bring Ariadne into the war on the side of the Empire. It had still been a long, and bloody two years before the combined forces had managed to push the Confederacy back out of Imperial territory, although both sides had been exhausted and when a peace treaty was presented by the mages of Mundus Vetus that was fair enough, particularly in terms of reparations to the Empire by the Confederacy.

Emily pulled herself out of her thoughts as Collette continued. "I'll pull and update all of our defensive plans with the new ships used for evacuation then I'll have them sent to you for review and approval."

"Thank you, Collette." She gave her old friend a smile as the Knight-Commander stood and sketched a salute. "Ah, before I forget, have we learned anything of our mystery patient?"

The furred ears twitched again as a slight blush colored her cheeks. "Ah, yes, sorry, but the incident actually slipped my mind with all the other reports that have been making their way to me." She gave a little smile as the Grandmaster merely waved the apology off as unimportant. "Well, unless anything's changed since I came up to visit you, she's still in a coma. I know we've both been swamped, so I'll recap a little." She cleared her throat before continuing more formally. "Seven days ago, around 1830 Ariadne Standard, our intruder appeared in our airspace. None of our patrols spotted her, but the first report came from the ANS _Ayase_, where our intruder seemed to have personally impacted the ship's tail and knocked out one of her spell amplifiers, by ripping it off the hull..." Collette shivered at the thought of that, wondering how the silver-haired woman had even managed to survive that. "_Ayase's_ captain sent her to general quarters thinking that they were under attack, and managed to track the woman's signal as she made her way towards the Academy. We've managed to clean up the signals that we got from her as well... And I'm told that our technicians have never seen anything like the magical signature she was giving off."

Sevensheep frowned at that. "How so?"

"That's just the thing, they were detecting mana, but she seemed to be drawing it from within herself. It's like she was able to convert Ki to Mana somehow. But at any rate, a scramble order was issued, and several Valkyries were able to intercept short of the flight training field, but due to the target's velocity, they were only able to get off a single spell, and only Sagitta Magica at that... but it amounted to nearly two hundred wind and lightning arrows... and a target that seems to have been unable to dodge. And yet, she managed to raise an unincanted shield that stopped all but five of the arrows, all lightning which struck her head on, and didn't even seem to faze her in the slightest. What I found interesting though, was the tales of how she landed, she apparently uses darkness in her spells, but she created a second type of shield that managed to dig up quite the trench in the field before she seemed to have exhausted her mana and... well, tumbled to a stop, which I'm fairly certain is where she picked up most if not all of her injuries. And then she passed out, mana exhaustion from the feel of it."

The Grandmaster nodded as she leaned forward, placing her elbows onto her desk. "And do you think she's a spy or saboteur for the Confederacy?"

"That... is a more difficult question. She's fully human according to the Academy's doctor, but she has a very unnatural hair color for her age, and her eyes... Well, they're quite an eerie shade of red that you don't see outside of a very few Hellas, or demons. And when you add the Valkyrie reports that she was flying using six black feathered wings rather than a broom or staff... It's hard to say, especially since she had no wings when I saw her when they were taking her off the field. For now we're keeping her under guard by a squad of Valkyries at the Academy's infirmary. We found no artifact cards on her, nor any sort of wand, but she had a rather... ominous looking weapon that we removed that is apparently an interestingly advanced piece of technology beyond anything we've seen because it speaks, quite intelligently I might add, and there were traces of mana all over it, so I'd consider it safe to assume we've mostly disarmed her for the time being."

"Good work, now, go do what you need to, just keep me informed of the situation, though I'll trust your judgment on what to do with her."

Collette nodded before stepping out of the office at the dismissal.

Emily turned her gaze back to the rising sun, giving a little sigh before she turned back, finding the ever present stack of urgent paperwork that demanded a Grandmaster's attention on a daily basis, and picked up a pen before pulling the first in line to read.

_**July 20th, 2143, 0950 hrs, Monroe Academy Infirmary, Ariadne, Mundus Magicus**_

Her eyes opened, only to close tightly at the sudden brightness of the lighting. She lifted her left arm, trying to help block out the light as a soft groan escaped her. She heard a voice, heard footsteps approaching, though she couldn't understand a word. Thinking it worth the effort, she tried all the languages she knew, and spoke back, trying Midchildan, Belkan, and lastly, Japanese.

"Where am I?"

To her surprise it was the one that drew a reaction from the figure beside her. She opened her eyes, slower this time, turning her head to look up at the figure next to her. _White coat... Doctors... They just don't change, no matter where you find yourself. I wonder if Shamal will ever end up wearing one?_

Reinforce discarded that train of thought quickly as she looked up at the aged doctor as he spoke back, his accent quite strong, but still understandable. "Excellent! We do have a common language. You, my dear, are in Ariadne."

"Ariadne... Administered world 20?" She didn't notice the look of confusion on the doctor's face. "Please contact the TSAB, tell them that Reinforce needs to speak with Admiral Lindy Harlaown. The Admiral will understand."

"Ah, I might be more out of practice with this language than I thought. I'm sorry, but you're in the sovereign City of Ariadne, this world is Mundus Magicus."

_Mundus Magicus? Where is that?_

The doctor continued on as he waved to the side, her eyes following to catch sight of two armored figures with swords at their sides. "We'll figure out where we all are shortly though. We've healed you up, that was quite the rough landing you had the other day. You managed to break most of your fingers on your right hand, and nearly shatter all of the bones in your arm, as well as cracking the majority of your ribs, and several other breaks of varying severity. You're fine now, but you'll probably be sore for a few more days, and you were critically low on mana, so I'd recommend that you don't use any magic at all for at least a week. We need to get you some food, and something to drink I imagine as well, after nearly seven days unconscious. After that, I'm afraid I'll have to allow the Valkyries to contact the Knight-Commander so we can get your situation taken care of."

Reinforce couldn't help but blink at the doctors rapid fire explanation of what had happened and simply nodded as the doctor headed for the door, the armored gazes of the Valkyries never leaving her even as he passed. She twitched as she remembered herself, calling out to the doctor before he opened the door.

"Thank you, Doctor."

He didn't reply, only giving her a little smile and a wave before shutting the door behind himself. With his departure, she turned her attention to what were obviously guards to keep her from causing any trouble. She couldn't see either of their faces, but it was hard to miss the thinly veiled hostility emanating from the both of them. _Well, at least they both feel like they're only in the C+ to B- power range if worst comes to worst... But Mundus Magicus? I've never heard of a world called that before... Even among local names for Non-administrated worlds._

A sigh escaped her as she squirmed a little, working to get more comfortable as she waited a little impatiently for the promised meal.

The meal had been an excellent one, despite the odd blend of seasonings. Something which had surprised her given that she seemed to be in a hospital. It was common knowledge over many worlds that hospital food was... lacking. When she complimented the doctor on the quality, he simply laughed before telling her that it was only that good because it was from the Academy mess rather than a hospital 'chef.'

The doctor hadn't lied though, as she used her left hand only to eat, her right was sore enough to cause her to gasp in pain before they'd immobilized it, even if it was obvious that the bones within were no longer shattered.

She had just taken the last bite as the door opened once more, revealing a woman of average height... with brown... floppy dog ears laying alongside the blonde hair that was showing signs of graying. She was in an obvious uniform, long-sleeved sky blue jacket sporting insignia at her collar and shoulders, as well as a rather impressive showing of bits of decoration upon her chest, which given the general lack of décor upon the rest of the jacket, she assumed were awards that she'd earned, not simply been given. The uniform was finished off by a white knee-length skirt that flowed freely around her legs as she turned to close the door behind her, revealing a... slender furred tail.

Suppressing the urge to twitch, she chuckled mentally. _Hayate... it's a good thing you aren't here right now. Your hobbies might have sparked a war..._

When the woman turned back, once again facing Reinforce and walking towards the bed, any urge to laugh faded as she finally looked into the woman's eyes. Despite the polite smile on her lips, it was obvious that she was a soldier, and one who'd seen combat at that. Reinforce stiffened slightly, almost coming to attention as she sat up in the bed.

"Now then, the doctor has informed me that you're healthy enough for me to ask you a few questions. Before I begin, allow me to introduce myself. I am Knight-Commander Collette Farandole, Commander of the Ariadne Mage Knights."

The woman held out her left hand, her smile widening a little as she nodded to Reinforce's immobilized right. Reinforce couldn't help but chuckle slightly as she grasped the offered hand with her left. "Knight -Commander, it's a pleasure to meet you. I am Reinforce Eins, from Japan."

The Knight-Commander's emerald eyes seemed to sparkle momentarily before she replied. "It's always a joy to meet individuals from Mundus Vetus," she seemed to notice Reinforce's confusion. "Ah, it's our term for Earth. I had a number of friends many years ago from Japan, and I hope you won't take this the wrong way, but you don't look like you're from Japan originally. And given the abilities you displayed to my soldiers upon your arrival, I'm assuming you're from the magical side of Mahora. Don't worry, we're on quite good terms with the Dean of Mahora, and as soon as you're patched up we'll be able to get you back to your home."

Her expression turned to one of confusion as the woman rattled on. "Um, I'm afraid I don't know of any Mahora... or any dean."

Emerald eyes narrowed at that. "Well then, unfortunately this just got a bit more difficult. Because that makes you one of four things, the first... A spy for the Megalomesembrian Confederacy, with whom we find ourselves likely to be at war with in the coming weeks. The second being that you're a spy for the Empress of the Hellas Empire, in which case I would contact Theo and have you sent home unharmed, along with a report of whatever it was the Theo sent you here for. The third, you're a spy for the Hellas warmongers, in which case you would not be sent home with information, but rather in chains to be delivered to Empress Theodora's justice. Lastly, and indeed, the least likely... You're a girl that managed to utilize self-taught magic to transfer from Mundus Vetus into the skies over Ariadne, which should be impossible with our current knowledge of magic. And so, I need to ask you, which option was it? Of course allow some variation in the options based on me simply attempting to oversimplify."

"I... To be completely honest, none of those are even close to right. I promise, I've never heard of this Confederacy, or any Empire by that name. I ended up in Japan due to various reasons, but I've never even heard of this Mundus Magicus, or Ariadne. I apologize for whatever damage I might have caused, but I swear I'm not a spy, of any of the groups you mentioned."

Collette's gaze remained stern as she stared into Reinforce's eyes as if she were attempting to read her mind. Finally she spoke, a smile breaking through as she nodded. "I believe you. And your circumstance reminds me a little of an old friend and how she arrived here one day without any idea of what was going on. Though at least you still have your memory... I managed to wipe a lot of her memory in an accident. Add to that the fact that you asked to be put in contact with an Admiral that is not from either the Empire or the Confederacy, but rather this TSAB? Allow me to formally welcome you to the city of knowledge, Ariadne, where... Oh drat, what was the old saw... even Death would be welcome to learn? Something like that. Although it probably wouldn't hold true any more. Not many Megalomesembrians are looked on kindly here any more... Sadly humans too at that... Save for the ones that are citizens of Ariadne anyways. I promise, you won't have any problems while you're here though, two from the Valkyrie brigade will be with you at all times. Trust can only go so far when war is on the horizon I'm afraid. Now then, you need to rest up. I'm told that we'll be able to release you from the infirmary tomorrow though, And I'm fairly certain that the Grandmaster will want to speak with you. I'll go talk with her and I'll be right back to let you know what she decides."

_Well, Emily, what do you think?_

Collette gave a little chuckle at the mental sigh that was returned by the Grandmaster after she'd relayed the conversation with the intruder, this Reinforce Eins.

_I don't know. If you say she was being truthful, I'll believe it. I'm just not sure what to do with her if she's somehow gotten herself misplaced. We can't afford to help her if she needs more than the most basic of things, we have a war that we'll have to fight, and the new ships have to be finished, and soon. The reports coming from Mahora's Solar System Development Organization are only giving us another year of stability. And you know as well as I do how it's already begun. To be honest I'm surprised we've managed to stave off war this long. We should just consider ourselves lucky that we've managed to create the technology necessary to save Ariadne's population, and at least a third of the Empire's according to Theo. Much better than just the humans running back to Mundus Vetus and leaving all demi-humans to die. _

Collette sighed at that. The fact that they wouldn't be able to save everyone didn't sit well with her, especially considering that the reason they wouldn't was because the Confederacy had refused to participate in the building programs that would produce the ships that would be able to support the demi-human population after the magical world merged with the same plane of existence as Earth.

_I'll do what I can for her then. I do trust her. Her eyes are too revealing for her to be a good spy. Well, either that or she's the very best of spies. I'll place her in with the fourth or fifth year cadets for the time being though, that way she won't be able to get into any information we wouldn't want her getting at, as well as keeping her out of the way until we figure out what we need to do with her._

_Very good, Collette. I'll leave her to you then. And now, if you'll excuse me, I need to contact Theo and let her know that we've completed our final ship, and will be able to begin production to help her manufactories._

Collette smiled as she pulled the card away from her forehead before slipping it back into a pouch at her waist, knowing that the Grandmaster wouldn't be expecting her to say anything after finishing. She turned to step back into the infirmary.

_This Ariadne is certainly quite the sight. _She stood next to the window, gazing out at the city in the morning sun. It was a very curious mix of both old and new, with the majority of the buildings being made of brick rather than any of the more modern steels and plastics that were common on Earth, or at least in Japan.

She turned back, on eyebrow rising as the Knight-Commander returned just a minute or two after having left. Farandole simply chuckled quietly before she smiled. "Sorry, there might have been the implication that I was going to go see her personally, but she and I can speak telepathically. I just didn't want to seem rude by doing it right in front of you."

She smiled at Reinforce's nod. "While normally we'd love to help with your situation, I'm afraid we simply don't have the resources to devote to any side projects. You are going to stay with us for the time being though, and there's something of a tradition that you're going to adhere to. Anyone is welcome in Ariadne... well, anyone with good intentions anyways... But one must either be a student, or faculty while here. So we've decided that we'll make you a student here for the time being. We'll be putting you in with our fifth year Mage Knight cadets when you're released tomorrow. The Valkyries tell me that you had quite the powerful shield for as quickly as you cast it, and I'd like to see how you compare with students a year away from graduating. And don't worry too much about getting lost or anything, you'll be escorted by you guards, and they'll be keeping an eye on you unless anything major changes. Do you have any questions for me?"

Reinforce shook her head, somewhat dazed by the Knight-Commander's rapid decision making with little to no concern of her own consent, not that she could expect much different after causing such a ruckus. "Ah, wait... Actually I do have one question. What happened to my device?"

The blonde cocked her head at that. "Device? Oh! You mean that weapon of yours that won't shut up about being returned to it's 'Mistress?'"

_That... does not sound at all like NachtWal. _"Ah... Yes?"

"I'm afraid I can't return... what did it call itself... Nacht Klaue... something like that, to you just yet. While I'm fairly confident that you aren't an enemy, that doesn't mean that I can let you walk around armed, even if you are under guard. One of the technicians that's studying it tells me that it's essentially your wand... but it incorporates elements of artificial intelligence to boost their power... Such a combination of magic and technology is unheard of here on Mundus Magicus, though more than a little research has gone on back on Mundus Vetus, especially in Mahora, to combine magic and technology... We won't send it off to be studied by anyone other than us though, and I promise we won't disassemble it or anything. I just can't let you keep it until you've proven you won't be a threat."

Reinforce simply nodded, wondering exactly what happened for NachtWal to have turned into this Nacht Klaue. "I understand."

"Now then, fair warning, the cadets might be a bit eager when they meet you. After all, it's not often that they run across someone their own age that can take spells from Valkyries and come out unscathed!" She frowned slightly before glancing at Reinforce's right arm. "Well, mostly unscathed, and you would have been if you hadn't crashed." Her smile widened to a grin before she turned to leave with a lazy wave back at the new fifth-year cadet.

_Well, it's not as if I have anything else to do at the moment. And if they'll take me in, I'll be able to recover my strength until I'm able to contact the bureau on my own if they can't. Now I just hope that interacting with an unaffiliated group of mages doesn't get me in any more trouble... I have enough of that as it is already._


	2. Chapter 2

_**July 21st, 2143, 0500 hrs, Monroe Academy Fifth Year Dormitory, Ariadne, Mundus Magicus**_

The silence of her room was shattered, filled by a rather raucous tune blaring through the PA that was found in every room. It was a rude awakening, if the displeased groan muffled by a pillow was any judge to go by, this reveille. _Sure, Hayate might have been an early riser. At least then I wasn't actually waking up, and even she would think five in the morning was excessive! Six is a much more reasonable time._

Sadly, the bugle, or what passed for a bugle here anyways, didn't let up. Her head popped up finally, waves of silver swirling down her neck as she ceased her attempt to drown herself in the sinfully comfortable pillow. Her red eyes, always a little eerie, might have been downright horrifying as she blinked blearily, her emotions a little less hidden than they should have been. Fortunately, no one was present to see her before she could fully rouse. She felt for her power, despite the doctor's warning about not using her magic. While she was by no means back at full strength, she wouldn't have any problems casting the majority of her spells a few times.

Her lips pursed as she slipped out from under the covers only giving herself a moment to stretch, wincing slightly at the sore stiffness in her now healed right arm, before swinging her feet down to the floor and hurrying over to the closet. Four new uniforms, and the slightly worse for wear skirt and top that had survived her landing, as well as several sets of undergarments were all that were within, a thought that made her chuckle quietly, thankful that Hayate wasn't there to

see the sad state of her wardrobe. The thought of an all day shopping trip didn't exactly appeal to her, especially with the... curious outfits such a trip would entail under the girl's direction.

She'd asked if it was entirely necessary to have so many uniforms, though the tailor had simply laughed the question off with a wave about the various training exercises and overpowered exarmatios. _Whatever that's supposed to mean..._

_Not that I should complain about this though, it does help that I won't have to do laundry every day. _She chuckled again at that thought as she hurried to pull her underthings on before pulling on the stockings that seemed to count as part of the uniform. She knew she only had a few minutes to be outside to join up with the rest of the fifth years before they headed to the mess for breakfast. The top and skirt were functional enough at least, even though she thought the double-breasted black and white jacket was a little excessive. The black sleeves and back with the white front did leave something of a mental image of appearing penguin-like, but the way in which it was tailored showing off most of her curves in a very flattering way caused her to not mind the possible comparison in the least.

_It does look darn good on me... _She smirked at her reflection in the mirror as she allowed herself a moment of vanity before tying the ribbon around the stiff collar, black signifying that she was a fifth year. Her eye twitched as she realized what she'd just done. _No! We're not going to go down that road..._

She chuckled again, taking a moment to smooth out her skirt before she turned to the door, wondering if her guard was already there for her. Her guards, Valkyries they'd been called, were apparently amongst Ariadne's elite. And talking with the few who shared a knowledge of Japanese over the course of the day before had helped her learn quite a lot about the situation of the world she found herself in. Not to mention the reason that she'd gotten off so lightly after trespassing; after all the only thing that stood between her and escape was a single locked door, and one or two of the local mages that didn't even seem to have much of an idea of what she was actually capable of.

Their lack of caution with her presence was appalling, even the TSAB would have been a bit more wary about an unknown suddenly popping up. Especially if they were on the brink of war as Ariadne was. She'd even asked about that, to which her guard's reply had simply been that it was something of a tradition in Ariadne. The previous Knight-Commander had apparently appeared out of nowhere and been quite a boon to Ariadne. Of course security had been heightened, the various Academies put more focus on magics suitable to combat or support of it, and outsiders were watched more closely than they had been, but Ariadne refused to succumb to the sort of draconian policies that had become the norm in Megalomesembria.

Hence the seemingly soft treatment of her, especially with her willingness to participate as a cadet. Though it had been explained then that by Ariadne's standards, detailing a squad of Valkyries to keep an eye on an unknown was equivalent to finding the deepest darkest dungeon possible and locking her away before obliterating the only key.

The world of Magic as it was called though, seemed to be in quite a lot of trouble. It was split between two superpowers, both of which had a long history of antagonizing each other as well as two wars that from the sounds of it would rival any of the Belkan conflicts that she'd participated in, save perhaps that the scale was limited to solely one world. It was made all the worse by the fact that the two powers had had almost cordial relations after an incident some twenty years after the so called First, or Great War.

The son of a well-known war hero had managed with the aid of both the Empire and Confederacy, as well as support from the various independent city-states, particularly Ariadne. Had managed to prevent the collapse of the Magic world. The valkyrie hadn't been certain of what that entailed, but then again, apparently no one was anymore. Not that it mattered, both sides had set their differences aside and worked together for the greater good, and numerous arms limitations treaties had been signed.

Sadly it wasn't to be. The Confederacy had slowly become more and more hostile over several decades, mostly due to tensions of the fact that the Confederacy's population was some 95% human. The Empire, on the other hand was some 90% demi-human, with a population nearly 40% larger than that of the Confederacy. The Megalomesembrians had merely been looking for the opportunity to start another war, and when they had it in the case of Theodora's visit to Earth, they'd struck hard and fast, streaming over the borders within minutes of the delivery of their declaration of war.

Ariadne, despite the general desire to side with the Empire, had remained neutral. The only concession had been that the city and its surrounding lands had accepted thousands of refugees, and despite the insistance of the Megalomesembrian Senate that the Confederacy be allowed to search through the refugees to uncover any Hellian combatants within, refused with the threat of joining the war to allow any Megalomesembrian mission onto the city's soil.

The neutrality wasn't to last though, the Confederacy employed despicable methods quite regularly, and had even targeted the Imperial family, managing to kill the Emperor and the Empress, as well as Theodora's elder siblings. The Confederacy's strategy, while incredibly effective, infuriated those in Ariadne, and the final straw had been the breaking of the arms treaties that had been signed under the watch of this Negi Springfield.

A petition had been started amongst the population of Ariadne that made it to the Grandmaster's desk with nearly 80% of the population having signed, requesting that Ariadne join the war and aid the Empire. It had been another week before the decision was finally made, but once it was, half the fleet had been dispatched to the nearest front, to hammer away at the Confederacy as soon as the newly crowned Empress Theodora's permission was granted.

Reinforce's thoughts on the Knight-Commander had been confirmed as well, she'd apparently earned her current position based on her performance in the war as a Valkyrie Knight-Captain. She shook her head quickly, glancing at the clock and realizing that she'd been dwelling on the world she found herself in too long.

She slipped on the shoes that were so similar to those that Hayate had worn to school. She pulled the door open, nodding to the Valkyrie that she'd learned all that she had from, who was standing just outside her door. Reinforce nodded to the short armored figure, who gave a little smile and a nod in return. _Ayase Nodoka. Why do the Japanese always have difficult names? Well, alright, to be honest hers is easier than many, but still... _The woman was apparently the great-granddaughter of the previous Knight-Commander.

Her voice was quiet, and relatively monotone. "A little slow, but passable for a cadet."

Reinforce's smile widened at that. "Yes, well considering that's the first day I've attempted to wake up quite so early in years... As well as the fact that I'm still trying to adjust to finding myself in a world that I knew nothing about until yesterday... I'm doing pretty well to even make passable."

A chuckle was what she got in reply before Nodoka's armored hand waved towards the hall. "Shall we be on our way? It wouldn't do for you to be late to your first roll call. And don't worry, I'll help you out so the instructors don't have too much of an excuse to run you ragged on your first day."

Roll call and breakfast had been hurried affairs, taking only about forty minutes total despite the presence of nearly 300 cadets. Nodoka had explained that that was fairly normal given the current situation, as Ariadne was attempting to train up its forces as quickly as possible, so they wasted as little time as possible not actively teaching or training them.

Classes began at 0600, starting off with squad tactics under a rather grizzled man who was clearly a non-commissioned officer. No other could possibly be that creative with their insults even when they were praising a cadet for a response, or as harsh with their criticisms when one failed to respond adequately.

"Cadet Einz!" She hadn't flinched as most of those that he cold-called had. Something that seemed to please him even though his expression had remained as displeased as it had for the entirety of the class.

"Yes, Instructor?"

"What's the most important thing for a commander to keep in mind?"

"Knowing your capabilities, or perhaps more accurately, accepting your capabilities. Knowing when to push for victory, and even more importantly knowing when you're defeated. Fighting pointlessly is the worst thing you can do."

He nodded at her answer. "A good answer, Cadet. A Pyrrhic victory can be more harmful than a defeat in which your forces come out relatively intact. This holds true on a strategic level as much as tactical. You'd do well to remember the words of your fellow Cadet. She's wise beyond her years."

She forced herself to suppress the chuckle at that. Apparently he judged her by appearance, putting her in the same general age range as the rest of the class, which to her eyes appeared to be around 18. She had at least a few centuries on them, though she was far from certain how many.

The classes that followed had been interesting to her, in that she didn't have a clue what was going on in them. A captain of one of the fleet's battleships had discussed naval combat strategy and tactics, the intricacies of which she was freely willing to admit she'd never understand. She hadn't during the Belkan wars, and she certainly didn't now, even if this seemed simpler than interstellar naval combat.

And the magical courses. She shook her head somewhat bemused. Reinforce was used to drawing mana from her own body, and molding it via will or mathematical equations in the case of some of her newer spells. What these mages did, as was explained by the instructor while the rest of the class unleashed spells of varying elements and power toward targets, was to contract elemental spirits to mold mana drawn from the ambient environment more than mana drawn from the mage themselves.

She'd been given a... wand... complete with a sparkling star at the tip. The instructor had then showed her a simple little spell that summoned a little flame, and asked her to repeat the incantation. "Practe bigi nar: Ardescat."

The instructor had been observing closely, even if one was incapable of actually producing the small flame, the flame spirits would have responded to even the most inexperienced first time caster. Even Nodoka's eyes had widened as she realized that... less than the usual nothing had occurred for the first spell Reinforce had attempted to cast.

Reinforce, noticing their reactions decided to try again, only this time rather than trying to draw on the mana of the environment, she'd feed her own mana into the wand like a device. She blinked as the wand gained a black aura before black sparks started appearing.

Nodoka called out a warning, one that after seeing the wand's state, caused Reinforce to toss the wand aside before it detonated, sending Nodoka and the instructor flying back several feet with the resulting shock wave. She was spared by a hastily summoned shield, the rotating black triangle redirecting the force upwards.

"What was that?" The instructor's voice coming off as quite bemused as she brushed her hair back into place.

"Um... Oops? Sorry about the wand... I was trying to make it work by trying to merge the way I cast spells with yours."

The instructor simply waved off the apology. "Quite alright. That was just a beginner's wand... Though I've never heard of one up and detonating like that." Nodoka nodded in agreement with the statement.

"Indeed, you seem to use magic in a completely different fashion from us it would seem. Perhaps you could explain how yours works?" Nodoka's eyes seemed to sparkle as she spoke, apparently she was a glutton for new knowledge.

Reinforce hesitated for a moment, wondering if she was not supposed to reveal how her magics worked. It was common knowledge back in Administrated space, but she was in uncharted territory. "Well, the specifics... Are complex. I have two styles of magic though. My primary style is Belkan, but essentially I mold mana into the desired effect with willpower. It's not exactly that simple, but that's it in it's most basic sense. The other, Mid-Childan, involves the use of complex mathematical equations to cast the spell."

Both Nodoka and the instructor nodded, although they still didn't really seem to understand how it worked. It wasn't long before Nodoka piped in with the logical question. "I've seen you cast your defensive spells, would you be able to show us any others?"

Reinforce let out a little sigh at that, knowing that it would come up eventually. "I could, but practically none of my spells are... well, weak enough to be used like your ardescat." She paused, looking to the targets that her fellow cadets were slinging spells at on the field that served as a magical firing range. "If you'd like, I do have one spell that would be usable here though."

The both of them nodded eagerly. _Too eagerly._

She gulped a little as she watched the instructor call the other cadets away from the firing line. _An audience too? _She sighed at that. It was to be expected though. The other cadets had seemed quite eager to see what she was capable of, even if they were behaving themselves during classes. She figured that she would have been mobbed with questions after this class in which they had an hour break for lunch before they went into actual training sessions.

Nodoka stepped up to the line with her and explained the targets. "Each of the targets is enchanted to be destroyed when it takes a certain threshold of damage. We've got them set to be a little tougher to destroy than what the average Megalomesembrian soldier's defenses should be. You're welcome to take your pick of which one you want to destroy for this."

"Can I just destroy all of them?"

The Valkyrie paused at that, giving the silver-haired cadet an old-fashioned look. "Can you?"

Reinforce turned back to the range frowning thoughtfully. "Well, they are spread out a little too far for a bombardment spell... I'll stick to one of my simpler ones then."

She took a deep breath before she waved her right hand through the air in front of her, the Tome of the Night Sky materializing to the surprise of most of the cadets, as well as Nodoka. Especially when it simply hovered in front of Reinforce. She raised her hand over her head, and began forming the blood red daggers overhead, all of them pointing out towards the targets. Twenty appeared, a reasonable enough number she decided, after all, it wasn't as if she was trying to hit a highly mobile airborne target.

"Blutiger Dolch." She spoke simply before the daggers shot off in red streaks, darting in and out of each others paths before they zig-zagged to their final target, all twenty easily piercing the targets some fifty meters away and exploding within.

The field was silent after the booms from the exploding daggers faded, causing her to turn and look in confusion at the expression on the faces that had been observing her. Nodoka was the first to find her voice. "That... looked like one seriously overpowered Sagitta Magica." Her eyes widened as she saw the dust clouds fading, seeing twenty destroyed targets. "Alright, I'll rephrase, that was seriously overpowered. The barriers on each target should handle about 90 arrows at once... at least spread over an area... but your daggers look like they're designed to pierce a target and any barriers before exploding with the energy of what must surely be thirty or forty arrows. And you say that's one of your simpler spells?"

She twitched, realizing that she probably shouldn't have shown off quite the way she had. The various expressions on the faces of her fellow cadets caused her pale cheeks to flush slightly as she shifted uncomfortably. "Well... yes."

The Valkyrie twitched. "How many of those daggers could you control at once?"

Reinforce frowned at that. "I'm not sure, to be completely honest. Alone, I'd say I could reach about 50. With a device? Allowing for variations of device quality, anywhere from 350-500." Seeing the woman paling she hastened to add. "That's a maximum, worst case scenario. If that much firepower were necessary, I'd probably end up just using a bombardment spell anyways."

That didn't seem to help much, if Nodoka's reaction was any sort of judge. The cadets were babbling questions, or at least what appeared to be questions as the started to swarm around her, although she couldn't understand a word of most of the questions. The few that were addressing her in Japanese had their voices swept away in the clamor. It was only by proximity that she heard the Valkyrie muttering to herself. "God, it's like she's another Ala Alba member..."

_Alright, Reinforce. No more showing off, ever. A AAA spell evokes this sort of reaction from these people. We are not going to start pulling out anything S level. Ever._

_**July 21st, 2143, 1400 hrs, Monroe Academy Flight Field, Ariadne, Mundus Magicus**_

Grandmaster Sevensheep chuckled as she gazed out over the field, Collette at her side as they observed the fifth-years flying in formation. Well, all but one of them. The one who had caused her chuckle as the scene was so reminiscent to when Yue had first attempted flight on her broom.

_Though, Reinforce seems to be even less successful at it._ She and Collette had been given a brief report on the antics that had taken place at the firing range. From the sounds of it, their guest appeared to be one of the next great mages in terms of sheer power. While what had been described sounded impressive, and it was, she apparently wielded power equivalent to half a Mage Knight company.

Of course, that was still next to nothing compared to the greats of Mundus Magicus, and even some on Mundus Vetus. The few surviving members of Ala Alba would likely be able to handle her. And Springfield or McDowell? It went without saying that the two of them would likely not even break a sweat.

"You know, from what I got from the instructors, if we'd placed her properly according to her ability and experience, she should be either a Valkyrie, or at least a Sergeant with a squad of her own."

Emily chuckled as she nodded towards the girl who couldn't even get the grass to sway beneath her, much less get into the air on her broom. "You mean the grounded Cadet there?" Her tone made it obvious that she was merely playing.

"Yep! Though I bet we'll get to see her fly in her style soon. Even Yue was making a little progress after an hour. She's made... Well, none."

A fresh chuckle escaped the Grandmaster before they saw the cadet in question gently set down the broom before approaching the Flight Master. A few animated motions later, the silver-haired girl smiled before black ethereal wings erupted behind her before she launched into the air unaided, drawing an awed whistle from Collette. Especially since Nodoka seemed to be struggling to keep up with Reinforce's blistering speed.

"Well, that certainly is impressive. I'm not out here dodging work though, Collette, and I know you wouldn't be out here with me unless you had something to report. Is there at least good news this time?"

A sad smile found her lips before she answered. "Unfortunately not. We're getting reports of troop movements throughout the Confederacy, they're heading south to the border. And the opposition in the Senate is falling silent. Not that they would have the votes to block a declaration of war anyways. What worries me most is that the Megalomesembrian Eighth Fleet is making its way for us. There's all the usual platitudes of it just being a training exercise, but I just don't buy it. I'd recommend activating our reserves and getting the fleet off the ground. With your permission, I'd like to start deploying my Knights and stockpiling supplies. I wouldn't put it past this Senate to not even bother with the declaration of war anyways."

Sevensheep sighed at that, her ears and expression drooping slightly. "I'd hoped that the last war would be the last we saw, but it seems that we aren't so lucky. Permission granted, but I don't want us to be the ones to initiate this. But if and when they cross our border, I want you to hammer them. For now, we'll start evacuating the outlying villages, and load up the new vessels and get them away before it all kicks off. What about the Empire?"

"Theodora... she seems still reluctant to deploy her forces at their own border. She wants to minimize the potential for incidents that could start this any earlier than it absolutely must. Not to mention our own laws that prevent us from allowing foreign troops onto our soil in times of peace."

Emily didn't miss Collette's obvious feelings on the law that failed to take into account the possibility of a situation like the one Ariadne found itself in. "Yes, yes, but it was written into our charter, and we can hold off until the Empire would be able to come to our aid." _I hope..._

The Knight-Commander's frown gave evidence that she hadn't missed the unspoken words, but she continued on, as cheery as she always seemed. "Well, we're in good company on Mundus Vetus at least, the Exile Princess Asuna has been lobbying for support for us among the mages there, and I'm told that she's managed to gather a full regiment of volunteers. One that even managed to survive partial 'Eva-chan' training under the Princess personally. We've also gotten permission from Empress Theodora for them to pass through the Imperial Gateport. They should be arriving in four to five days. And our other allies are coming through for us as well. We've just finished collecting the materials for the ritual, and will be summoning Captain Tatsumiya and her company. We're getting a 20% discount, and a payment plan with no interest, not to mention the fact that Princess Zazie has agreed to pay another 20% of Tatsumiya's fee."

"I thought you said there wasn't any good news? That all sounds like great news to me."

"Well, yes, from one viewpoint it is, but we're going to get hammered by the media when we start fielding demon mercenaries, with aid from a princess of Mundus Diabolus. And volunteers from Mundus Vetus, raised by the 'traitor' Vespertatian Princess? Megalomesembria's propaganda weenies are going to have a field day painting us as even more evil than the Empire. Heck! The only way we could do worse is to bring the Dark Evangel or her first Disciple to the fight on our side!"

Emily raised an eyebrow at that as she took her gaze away from Reinforce as she twirled easily through the formations at breakneck pace. "Could we do that? I'd be up for enlisting McDowell even if she is psychotic."

"I already tried. Asuna said that she's gone wandering... And the last time she did that she disappeared for a good three years."

"I never thought I'd be disappointed that we couldn't get a hold of a dark mage. Though, from the feel of it we might have found one of our own. Her magic may be different, but you can feel it... That's dark magic that she uses."

Collette nodded before she screwed her face into the best 'philosopher Yue' expression she could manage, lifting one hand to pinch at her chin. She even mimicked their old friend's near-monotone voice. "Dark magic is not evil, there is no evil, and there is no good. If one must label actions for the sake of their own convenience, then it is how the magic is used that determines which label it should fall under. Light magic used to harm can be 'evil' just as dark magic used to help can be 'good.'"

"Six out of ten. You didn't quote some suitably long dead philosopher who said it before you. Yue would have."

That drew a chuckle from the Knight-Commander. "True enough! How she managed to keep everything straight in that head of hers I'll never know."

Emily just shrugged at that. "It was probably a family secret. After all, that grand-daughter of hers out there seems to be the model Valkyrie... despite the quirks that I think must be genetic." She shuddered in memory of the disgusting mixes of juices that Yue would drink nearly constantly.

Collette understood exactly what she was talking about, knowing that the young Valkyrie had a tendency to drink... odd flavor combinations.

The Grandmaster sighed as she looked back to the Cadets, pleased that they were still capable of holding formation even as what appeared to be two suicidal fliers darted in and around and between the closely packed V's. "How long do you think we have, Collette?"

Her cheery expression finally failed as she heard the resignation in the Grandmaster's voice. "Two weeks. Three at the outside."

"Thank you, Collette. Do what you can, but the goal is to buy time until we can evacuate. After we save the civilians we'll see where we go from there. Now, if you'll excuse me, I ought to get back to the office before someone sends a party out hunting for me. If you stay here a while, pass a message to see that Cadet Reinforce makes it to my office this evening. I'll be in late as usual."

Emily didn't wait for the usual irreverent reply, knowing that it would be coming.

"Aye aye, class rep!"

She suppressed a snort at that. _Some people never change, no matter what they go through._

_**July 21**__**st**__**, 2143, 2015 hrs, Ariadne's Grandmaster's office, Ariadne, Mundus Magicus**_

Reinforce tucked a stray lock of hair back behind her ear as she knocked on the door the the Grandmaster's office. Not nervously, merely just a desire to appear mostly composed even after a brutal run that had been imposed after dinner. She figured that they must have covered at least 15 kilometers. She'd even had to cheat towards the end, and call upon her magic to help fuel her legs. Even with that though, she felt like her legs were made of jello.

The reply was quiet, but she nodded to herself, pulling the door open before stepping inside and closing it behind her. Her eyes scanned the office, pleased by the lack of excessive grandeur. And that that there was seemed to be functional, like the desk that the grandmaster sat behind. Really, the only non-functional decoration was the gilded painting of crossed swords behind an open book over a sunrise.

The Grandmaster's eyes were on a paper before her that she scratched several notes on before signing at the bottom and placing it in a pile to the side. Her ears were curious... evidently she was one of the 'demi-humans.' Reinforce was pondering for a moment what they seemed most like, but all she could manage to think was fox ears even if the positioning on the sides of her head was wrong. Unlike the Knight-Commander though, she was wearing a simple tan suit that wouldn't have looked out of place on a business-woman back in Japan.

For her part, Reinforce simply stepped towards the desk, standing a few feet away and coming to attention, waiting for the Grandmaster to finish. Her wait wasn't long, as the Grandmaster glanced at the last paper on her desk and signed it before looking up with a warm smile.

"Sorry for the wait, my dear. Allow me to introduce myself, I am the Grandmaster of Ariadne, Emily Sevensheep." Her smile didn't fade as she rose up from behind her desk, walking around to the front before holding her hand out towards Reinforce who returned the smile, grasping the offered hand gently.

_Sheep ears then perhaps? _Hiding her amusement at the thought, she quickly pushed the thought away. "That's quite alright, I'm sure you're busier than needing to worry about me. I am Reinforce Einz, Mistress of the Tome of the Night Sky, and fifth-year cadet." She couldn't help but give a little chuckle at the last title.

Sevensheep joined her, the older-appearing woman's smile widening as she leaned back against her desk. "The cadet business is merely tradition around here, I'm pleased that you don't seem to have taken offense at it, especially when it's obvious that you're as skilled as some of our elites, and more powerful than all but a very few of our Mage Knights."

Reinforce simply waved the statement off. "Do not worry about it, I'm fascinated by what I've learned in just a single day of classes, even if I admit that I need to focus more upon my physical stamina. And if this is how you treat people who have trespassed into secure areas, believe me, I'm more than willing to accommodate any tradition you might have that doesn't end with me in a jail cell."

Emily just chuckled at that. "Well, after having seen the differences in our magic styles, I'm not worried that you're a spy for our enemy, considering that they would probably have sought to execute you long before you ever got quite so powerful with the use of dark magic."

Twitching at that, Reinforce's expression grew more serious. "I'd... not considered the possibility that using dark magic would be taboo here. You have my apologies. It isn't looked on kindly where I came from either, but it wasn't forbidden, only the more vile uses of it were."

She felt herself relaxing a little as the Grandmaster's smile never faded. "Don't worry my dear! We are not the Confederacy to label something as evil. Dark magic simply is, it people who misuse it that are evil. To be completely honest, one of the great heroes of this world is a dark mage. So as long as you don't go on any random rampages, we'll be happy to keep you here as long as we can. That said though, I do have a few questions for you about this... Admiral Lindy Harlaown, and this TSAB that you mentioned when you first woke. Ariadne is likely to find itself at war in days, and if we can get you back safely to where you came from, I'd like to see that done before we're forced to devote everything to war."

Reinforce's expression fell at that. "You think that a war is certain? Nodoka... Knight-Sergeant Ayase rather, spoke that war against the Confederacy was likely, though I haven't had much time to find more out from her. In return for your treatment of me, I will answer what questions I can about where I come from."

The Grandmaster nodded before she waved a hand over towards the sofa against one wall, walking over towards it and inviting the uniformed girl to join her. "Sadly, all that we're able to do is delay the start of the war as long as possible. Would you mind telling me why you requested that I seek out an Admiral of whatever this TSAB is?"

Reinforce settled down on the couch, at the other end from the Grandmaster, crossing her legs and settling in for what appeared would be a long conversation. _Here goes nothing... _"I'll start with the TSAB, or as it's more properly known as, the Time-Space Administration Bureau. The TSAB is an interstellar governing body that spans some 200 member worlds, and another 400 worlds that are 'non-administrated' which means that the world is under observation by the Bureau for potential membership once the civilization is mature enough to warrant TSAB contact. Of course, it's all much more complicated than that, but essentially it is the government where I come from. They maintain armed forces, though they're much more like peacekeepers than say your Mage Knights. They're trained more to uphold the law than pursue warfare."

She frowned a little, trying to decide how to continue. "Admiral Harlaown was the officer in charge of the incident that I was involved in on Non-Administrated Planet 97, or Earth, or Mundus Vetus as you call it. Due to something of a curse, I've caused misfortune over a number of planets until the 'curse' was broken in Japan. Unfortunately, I also caused the deaths of numerous people, and even a number of TSAB officers. While they understand that it was all due to the 'curse,' they'll still undoubtedly want me to enlist in the Dimensional Navy and serve out a sentence helping to maintain order."

She glanced over at the blonde woman in her suit, though she simply nodded for Reinforce to continue. "Well, given the level of magical development you've shown, I'm sure that the TSAB would be interested in opening talks with this world. I haven't attempted to contact them because I'd rather not do such a thing without your permission first."

The statement was as much a question as statement. "By all means, feel free to contact them, the sooner that we get you home, the better. Not to mention the possibility of coming into contact with another magical... well, other magical worlds... might even compel the idiots on this one to stop fighting each other."

_I'm surprised she managed to not even bat an eye at my explanation... Of course... maybe she thinks I'm crazy, which would not surprise me terribly to be honest._ She nodded to Emily as she summoned her book, turning pages over to the section that she'd absorbed from the Testarossa girl. A spell for interdimensional communication was hardly one that the Belkans had ever bothered developing. After all, they'd preferred traveling places personally in their warships.

She lifted her hand, a small black mid-childan spell circle appearing over her palm before she waved it through the air, forming a communications window mid-air. She frowned as all that it showed was static though. She began to pump more of her mana into the spell, but still nothing. "What the... I've seen this work in Japan... and I know the TSAB maintains listening posts that would pick up and respond..." She was mumbling to herself, though the Grandmaster seemed far more interested in the magical display that seemed so similar to the holodisplays of Mundus Vetus.

Reinforce twitched as she focused on the dimensional coordinates of the spell's origin. That couldn't be right. If the spacial coordinates were right, she wasn't that far off from Earth, certainly within the same solar system. The time coordinates were all wrong though. When a spell transferred one dimensionally, or even a vessel moving in and out of the dimensional sea, it wasn't uncommon for anywhere from a minute to twenty minutes being lost or gained based on perspective. The effect was accepted as a part of passing between dimensions, even if it was inadequately explained by Bureau scientists, but the TSAB specifically avoided passing through too many at once, and a spell would have to be ridiculously overpowered to allow a mage to jump this 'far' from their dimensional time origin. She was far from any dimensional sea listening post. Even if she was at full power, she'd never be able to reach that far even just with a communications spell.

"Wh-what year is it, Grandmaster?"

That caused Emily to look back at the girl with a raised eyebrow. "Were you not just on Earth? It is the year 2143 of the so called 'common era.'"

"Well, it appears that I won't be able to go home after all, Grandmaster. And you needn't worry about the TSAB finding you for some time to come, perhaps ever." She chuckled quietly at the raised eyebrow. "When the TSAB moves between worlds... dimensions... Please, don't ask me to explain beyond this, I don't know how they do it, nor do I have a spell that would allow me to do the same, so I have even less chance of understanding how it's done... Basically, space and time are the same thing. And then there are what the TSAB calls dimensions, though it might be simpler to label them as universes. They're able to use magic to slip out of a universe, and manipulate their space-time 'location.'"

Reinforce didn't miss the eyes glazing over slightly. "They can travel between universes, as well as their physical location within a single one." She hoped that would be a little bit easier to understand. "What they can also do is do the same thing with 'time.' However, for reasons I don't even begin to understand, the spells that they utilize require vastly larger amounts of mana for manipulation of one's time 'location' than one's spatial location. The last experiments that were done some twenty years ago ended with an exploratory vessel shifting only through time, and it ended up destroyed under the strain of just moving fifteen minutes into the future."

"I, however. Seem to have managed to move spatially some 200 million kilometers... which is nothing, an extra zero after the decimal could cause that sort of movement. What shouldn't be possible, is the fact that I appear to have moved about a century and a half into the future."

"I... see. I won't pretend that I completely understand, but you're certain that you won't be able to make it back to where you come from?"

"No. Not unless I can come up with a way for moving into the past, which is to the TSAB's understanding of magic and physics... impossible."

Emily frowned sympathetically as the silver-haired girl's expression fell. "I am sorry, but this raises a new question. Ariadne will soon be at war, and all cadets from the third-year up are going to be drafted to help defend. You of course being neither native to Ariadne or even this world, much less the only other one we knew about until your explanation, will not be drafted. We have an evacuation plan for the Ariadne's civilians and younger cadets, and I'll make arrangements for you to be evacuated along with them. And we'll keep you enrolled as a cadet until such a time as we evacuate you, unless you wish to do otherwise. Any road is open to you, except that I would not allow you to leave our territory for the Confederacy, but if you wished, I'm sure that we could make a deal with the Empress to have to moved to Mundus Vetus through her gateport."

Reinforce nodded, but was cut off before she could reply. "Don't worry about deciding immediately. There's still some time. It's late though, and you have an early morning tomorrow like any cadet does. Go, get some rest and collect your thoughts then come find me, I'll let Nodoka remain with you until we have to move her and her squad elsewhere."

Reinforce stood, forcing herself to give a small smile before she walked to the door to leave. She turned after she opened the door, remembering her manners. "Thank you, Grandmaster. I'll let you know soon what I decide. Good night."

* * *

**Not much to say! Thank you kindly to those of you who've placed this story on your favorites/follow lists, and especially those who took the time to review.  
**

**In response to the reviews, hopefully this chapter clears some of the questions up regarding the... oddly accepting nature of Emily and Collette and the such. I've worked out where this one is likely to end, as well as some plot points that I'd like to hit along the way, but it's all still very in flux, and I only managed to get to write this today because of a day off from class. **

**Hope you all enjoy, but I can all but guarantee that regular and/or quick updates like this will not happen, as I do have my other story that I probably should have been writing... but this one just felt better to me today.  
**

***Hopes people aren't too unhappy to see another email about C1112 writing on the wrong story***

**-C1112**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you everyone for your reviews, I'm glad that people are enjoying this even if I'm making errors. As for the questions of when characters will appear, all will be revealed in time! I have an outline of where things are going, but the details are still in flux, so I can't really answer questions that I don't even have the answer to.  
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**And Drinker, thank you again for another review! When it comes to the Nanoha-verse (Is that what one should call a verse that's a spinoff of another anyways?) I admit I'm not horribly knowledgeable about the expanded universe. I'm running on having just watched the three anime, and read most of what I could find in terms of the mangas. So basically, I'm running on a shoestring understanding of the 'mechanics' of the dimensional sea and just combining it with what I know about physics of the real world. And the making time travel impossible bit was just for the ease of integrating the universes in such a way that made it easy on me as the author... (So, yes, I was being lazy, and was just attempting to not have it be readily apparent that I was. Hahahaha.) **

**I won't give away more though, all the questions will... hopefully... be answered as we continue on through this wild little journey. As always, hit me in a review if I screw anything up too spectacularly, as for minor things I blame it on not being completely true to either Negima or MSLN, just hopefully true enough for it to be enjoyable to you guys as the readers.**

**Shutting up now! Enjoy!  
**

* * *

_**July 27th, 2143, 0800 hrs, Grandmaster's Office, Ariadne, Mundus Magicus**_

"Damn. They're moving quick." Collette raised an eyebrow at the rare curse to escape from Emily's lips.

The Knight-Commander shrugged before replying. "It's not entirely unexpected, they recieved word of our allies' arrivals about as quickly as we expected. It is a little odd that they reacted so quickly, but I think they had prepared for the possibility of needing more than they expected to take Ariadne."

Emily leaned back in her chair, letting out an uncharactaristic sigh as the door was opened by her secretary, three individuals stepping inside before the door closed behind them. The Grandmaster quickly rose to greet her guests, holding a hand out to each. "Princess Asuna, Captain Tatsumiya, Master Sakurazaki. It's a pleasure to see you all. I do apologize for not being able to meet with you yesterday, I was forced to personally oversee the beginnings of the evacuation."

They each shook the offered hand, Asuna sporting a smile, the two half-demons more reserved with their emotions. The three women were... impressive to say the least. The Princess was only of average height, and the traditional Ostian dress that she wore would fool the uninitiated into thinking that she was not dangerous. Little was known of how she fought, though Emily knew from personal experience that the woman was immune to all but the most powerful magics.

_If you couldn't have the Dark Evangel, or her first apprentice, the second is certainly a good alternative. Made even better because it isn't well known that she studied under Evangeline._

Sakurazaki Setsuna was the shortest of the three, but as with any Shinmei-ryu, the nodachi strapped to her back would be a deadly effective weapon. Rumor had it that she was the most powerful practicioner of the sword that Mundus Vetus, and likely Mundus Magicus as well, had ever seen. Especially after the brutal training of having defended the current dean of Mahora for well over a century as the school was not popular amongst the darker regions of magical society, or with Megalomesembria.

Tatsumiya Mana though, there was a name feared by all for obvious reasons. She had few scruples when it came to picking her work, the only people that had ever steered her decisions on what jobs to take and which ones to avoid were the Crown Princess of the Mundus Diabolus, and her little sister. And even then, the rumor went that she demanded the one and a half times the price of the contract she was passing up. She and the 200 odd demons and half demons that comprised her company were the very best that money could buy in a mercenary. Unflinchingly loyal, once hired they would complete the terms of the contract no matter what other incentives were offered by the enemy, as long as their client continued to pay on time. And they had the added bonus of being the most experienced soldiers in all three worlds. There was not a conflict in the past century and a half that they hadn't fought in in some way shape or form.

Asuna seemed to slip into the role of spokesperson for all of them though. "Don't worry about it, Emily. And please... No formality, with any of us. We're interested in hearing more about your plans though, we were able to gather as many volunteers as we did because you don't plan on fighting to the bitter end. Understandably of course, details that have reached us are limited, and if you've been able to keep information from falling into Ala Alba's hands, I'm quite confident you've managed equally well against the Confederacy."

Emily nodded with a smile as she waved the three into chairs that had been prepared, Collette, having spent more time with Yue and other members of Ala Alba simply smiled and gave the three of them a nod of greeting.

Returning to her own chair, she leaned forward, resting her elbows on her desk. "The plan is simple. We need to hold the city for three, maybe three and a half weeks. Just the city, the rest of our territory can be sacrificed to buy us time. Unfortunately, with our estimates, we only have a few more days of peace. We expect we'll have to hold out under attack for at least two weeks."

She chuckled quietly as she saw three curious faces, the question on all of their minds obvious. "Why just hold the city for a couple of weeks?" She didn't respond immediately, taking a moment to pull an item out of the drawer of her desk, tapping it as a hologram appeared. It was a huge vessel, far larger than any dreadnaught that Megalomesembria or the Empire could field. It's size was made apparent by the fact that a huge crowd of people was milling slowly boarding.

The ship itself broke from the conventional sea-creature design that had been so prevalent amongst the magical world for centuries. Instead, it looked much closer to something recognizable from Earth's old science fiction. It wasn't pretty, more just a rectangular prism of massive proportions. There were various attachments to it, rather obvious engines towards the rear, as well as spell ports dotting nearly the entirety of its surface.

"I give you the future of Ariadne. The Jovis class colony ship. Designed to carry some 200,000 civilians each, with a crew of 10,000 to operate. A mix of technology from Mundus Vetus, and the best magical engineering that we could put together over the course of the past twenty years. We have four of them. And yes, that means that every single citizen of Ariadne that wishes to leave will be evacuated on a Jovis."

"That's... impressive, but where will you go? The Empire? I doubt that Empress Theodora would be able to help some 800,000 refugees when she gets drawn into the war." Setsuna asked, although her tone suggested that she knew Hellas wasn't their likely destination.

"The Jovis class was designed for the eventual collapse of Mundus Vetus. They aren't quite self-sufficient, but if our estimates are correct, they would serve as lifeboats for a full load of civilians and crew for two years before they needed to be resupplied. What we planned to do with them, now that we've managed to sustain demi-humans outside of Mundus Magicus, was to have the ships transfer out of this plane and into the same as Mundus Vetus and begin to colonize Mars."

The three seemed curious about the project, which surprised Emily, given the proximity that they'd had to Springfield who helped develop the alternative when it was clear that the collapse of the magics holding the two planes apart wasn't going to be be stopped, only slowed. _Though, it wasn't a bad idea to keep it quiet except for those who'd actually be developing and building the ships... The bastards in Megalomesembria would have started this war long before we'd even begun construction._

"Yes, since a solution to the coming collapse wasn't found, we decided to go with alternatives. We and the Empire have been building as many of these ships as we could without the word of them getting around, after all, you see what this war is truly about. The Senate wouldn't have stood for such powerful vessels being in the hands of demi-humans, and the fact that some of us will actually manage to survive the collapse that they thought would cleanse us from existence?" She had to fight to keep from snarling at the bigotted fools that lead the Confederacy. "Sure, arrangements have been made for the Confederacy's human population to be evacuated to Mundus Vetus, but nothing would have been able to save the vast majority of the Empire's population, or even our own here in Ariadne. With the technology that Mahora's Solar System Development Administration has helped create, as well as some very clever spell work by Negi Springfield, we have found a way around that. And while we'll only be able to save a very small number of demi-humans, we will not go extinct."

"And what of Earth's current Mars Colony?" Asuna's piped in.

"We don't plan on evicting them, if that's what you're asking. We will likely make contact with them, as well as Earth, but our ships at least, are going to find a suitable region and begin our own terraforming operations and do what we can to rebuild a suitable home. Afterwards we'll worry about what our sudden appearance will cause, and if necessary, we'll prove friendly intentions by helping in their own terraforming project."

She shook her head at that, realizing that she was well off topic for a strategy meeting. "At any rate, that's all provided that we survive long enough to get the Jovises loaded and launched. I won't allow Ariadne to start the war, but the moment that Confederate forces cross our border, I'm prepared to endorse any strategies that will ensure the city holds out long enough for the evacuation. So no, you will not be limited to fighting defensively, I want to kick their forces out of our territory and airspace and then push the war back onto their lands." It was difficult for her to hold in the chuckle as she saw Tatsumiya relax at that.

"I'm sure you all know the extent of Ariadne's forces, First Fleet will be on the front lines, and we'll be attaching half of Second Fleet for operations with First. The remainder will remain in the city. What you hopefully don't know, is that the Valkyrie Brigade was heavily expanded. We lifted the cap on the maximum number of Valkyries nearly two years ago. We have some 11,000 Valkyries that will be serving as our main offensive force, with the Mage Knights working to support them or serving as our defense. The rest of the Mage Knights numbers around 40,000, but we're going to be detatching 10,000 of them to serve on the Jovises to maintain order aboard them, and to keep people in line once they're on Mars. And lastly, we're going to mobilize the senior cadets, third years and up, which will give us another 5000 capable, if inexperienced, Mage Knights."

Mana's eyes narrowed at the numbers. "46,000 won't stand long against what the Confederacy will bring to bear. Just from what I've heard, they'll have at least 100,000 troops crossing the border, and they'll outnumber you in ships 3-1, and if you go by tonnage of those warships the ratio gets even uglier. I'll admit, your Valkyries are some of the finest troops on all three worlds, but there simply aren't enough of them."

"There's also been word that with your arrival, they've reinforced their fleet, we're outnumbered 4-1, and we think there'll be an extra 20,000-30,000 troops along with them." Tatsumiya frowned slightly at Collette's addendum.

"And that is why we're so thankful for your arrival and the aid that the three of you will give us. We just need time. And that's why I'm going to unleash the three of you to fight as you see fit. Collette has orders to support you in any way possible with whatever forces we can spare, and I know that she will do so, but you know your troops and their capabilities far better than we do. Plus, and I do hope that you will forgive me for this, it will make you targets. All three of you have bounties on your heads in the Confederacy, and I have no doubt that the possibility of collecting them will entice some of their commanders to focus more on you than on demolishing Ariadne."

That drew a feral grin from the half-demon mercenary. "Grandmaster, you've already made it onto my list of favorite employers. You can take another 5% off of my fee. You want me to raise as much hell as I can to make myself a target and have an even more entertaining fight on my hands? I think I can manage that."

Asuna chuckled at that. "While I'd honestly prefer to fight defensively, I understand that Ariadne simply isn't big enough for that. I would prefer to have my troops integrated into Valkyrie, or at least Mage Knight units, while I can guarantee they're all stronger than the average mage, many of them are still inexperienced, and frankly, a lot younger than I'd like them to be. But when word got out that volunteers were being taken to help Ariadne... Your city has earned a great deal of good will over on Earth, despite what Megalomesembrian agents have tried to do over there."

Collette nodded at that. "I'm sure we can manage that. Our troops will be able to keep them from getting killed stupidly at any rate."

Asuna nodded her thanks, but twitched as a bright flash lit the entire room. Emily spun in her chair, her eyes going wide as she saw the forest, some thirty kilometers away from the city. What was usually just a dense sea of green, was filled with an immense pink ball, which remained a second longer before it began to disappate.

Silence reigned in the office as everyone felt the magical power that had erupted within the forest. Emily turned back to Collette and asked simply. "You don't suppose that was Cadet Eins, do you?"

The Knight-Commander blinked as she watched the mushroom cloud forming. "Uh, well, the Fifth-years were scheduled for evasion training in the forest. I'm not sure I'd have put the blame on her first thing... but thinking about it... none of the instructors could manage something like _that._" Her last word was also emphasized by a thundering boom that rattled the windows of the office.

Asuna couldn't help herself, the incredulous words bubbling out uncontrollably. "A cadet? What do you feed them that causes them to manage to cast a spell I wouldn't be surprised seeing out of Negi or Evangeline?!" She frowned slightly in thought before she added, "Well, aside from the fact that it was _pink._"

"Ah... Well, she's not quite a Cadet. She is on the books as one, but she seems to be an alien. She claims to be from... well... I'm not at all certain where really, but a Japan some century or more ago, and was caught in a conflict with a multi-planetary magical government." She chuckled as she halted the explanation. "Put simply, she's from somewhere else, with some incredibly powerful spells from a style of magic I've never seen... although that's what I thought before she tried to blow up the forest... Insanely powerful spells might be more appropriate."

"Will she be a combatant?" Emily shrugged at Tatsumiya's question.

"That's entirely up to her. We've merely been providing her a place to stay as an apology for a rather rude greeting that we gave her when she was disoriented by her sudden appearance here. You're welcome to meet with her when she returns. She's... interesting."

The three didn't get a chance to respond as the door opened, the secretary hurrying over to the Grandmaster before handing her a note. She scanned the note quickly, before a chuckle escaped her. "Send out the scramble order, I want that forest swarming with Valkyries, round up the cadets and get them out of there."

Asuna remained quiet as the younger woman hustled back out the door, but as soon as she was gone, the Princess raised an eyebrow at the Grandmaster. "Something going wrong in the forest? I recall Yue telling me it wasn't the friendliest of places."

Emily resisted the urge to blush, remembering the incident. And judging by the way the Princess snickered, she both knew the story, and the Grandmaster had failed to hide her embarrassment. "Yes, well, that's why we use it for training our more experienced cadets. It seems to have gone wrong somehow though. There seems to be four dragons that aren't pleased with the cadets being there."

She paused as she saw a sparkle in the Princess' eyes... one that made her look as if she were 15 again. "Would you... Like to go with the Valkyries, Asuna?" The answering vehement nod only reinforced the image, and she glanced over at Sakurazaki, who simply gave a long suffering sigh.

"Well, by all means, feel free to go play with the dragons... just try to help keep the cadets out of trouble, would you?"

_**July 27th, 2143, 0400 hrs, Ariadne's 'Monster' Forest, Mundus Magicus**_

The yawn that she'd been fighting back for the past fifteen minutes was not to be denied. Somehow, she'd missed the memo that they were to be woken at three in the morning for an evasion exercise. It could have been worse, she supposed. They could have sent them out in the middle of the night without any sleep at all... But that was a small sort of consolation.

The ever-present Valkyrie sergeant had given a soft laugh when she voiced her complaint aloud, albeit quietly, given their location deep within the forest. Those who were close enough to hear had chuckled as well. "Don't worry, Rein, the secret to this little exercise is that when you escape the forest, they give you the rest of the day off. Most cadets usually use it to party, but I'm sure they'll be happy to let you crawl back into bed if that's what you really want to do."

Reinforce held in a snort at the tone that suggested Nodoka felt such an idea was near blasphemous. She stepped carefully through the undergrowth, her eyes scanning for any signs of the monsters that gave the forest its name. She glanced down at her left hand, wondering again why they'd decided to return the intelligent device that certainly wasn't NachtWal, at least not anymore. As she glanced around, she took note of the fact that the rest of the cadets were wearing at least light armor and carrying weapons or battle-worthy wands.

_I suppose sending us out armed and armored is their way of trying to show that even with the instructors out there with us, and even a squad of Valkyries on standby... the forest is quite dangerous, especially dark like it is now._

_0300 hrs_

Reinforce had been all but drug out of bed by Nodoka. It wasn't often that she contemplated hurting someone, but the Valkyrie was pushing all the right buttons by pulling covers away and telling her to get dressed. At least they'd stopped for the local version of coffee in the kitchen before she'd found herself led to a lab.

A white-coated lab tech had smiled and handed her a blue bracelet that had a single red claw dangling from an equally red chain. "We've completed our research on your device, and the Grandmaster has decided to have it returned to you with the understanding that you aren't to activate it unless the situation calls for it."

The sleepy cadet had simply nodded and mumbled her thanks as she frowned at the thing that had caused her so much trouble for so long. She glared back at the Valkyrie, remembering the more recent slight just as well as any done centuries ago. "And this couldn't have waited until morning, or better yet after training, why?"

"Oh, don't you worry about that, but don't bother trying to get back to sleep. You'll regret it if you do. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some preparations to make. I'll meet up with you shortly!"

She growled at the cryptic message, but resigned herself to remain awake. The very least she could do was use the time to plot what sort of vengeance she'd bring down on the Valkyrie should it all be a trick. She held the device up, frowning thoughtfully at it. "I'll decide what to do with you over breakfast..."

The mechanical voice replying to her words almost startled her. She hadn't been expecting a reply, even if it was apparent that the device was an intelligent one, or perhaps she was more startled by hearing her native tongue for the first time out of another in the longest time. [I am an intelligent weapon, Mistress. Does that designation not imply my proper use?]

Her eye twitched. _A cheeky device. They just don't make them like they used to. I might grow to like you, even if I sincerely hope that you don't turn out like that red demon jewel of Nanoha's._

"And why should I use you after the hell you put me through?"

The claw on the bracelet glowed slightly. [Mistress, undesirable modifications had been made upon my system. NachtWal was designed to defend the Book. I am Nacht Klaue_**, **_intelligent weapon built at the order of Kaiser Hildegarde I. Most of the modifications to my AI have been purged, though I am still bound to the Mistress of the Tome. You, Mistress.]

_Cheeky, and talkative. What happened to the two-word maximum reply?_

She sighed before eyeing the device critically. "Fine then, Nacht Claue. I'll keep you around for the time being, but don't make me regret it, and don't talk unless I or those around me are in danger. I'd rather not have to explain a talking bracelet."

"Yes, Mistress." Her eye twitched again as she fought the urge to snarl at what sounded like a resigned tone. She shook her head, and slipped the bracelet onto her left arm, where it resized itself to fit snuggly around her wrist.

_0340 hrs_

Reinforce still hadn't decided on the proper punishment for being woken an hour early. Though, she supposed that Nodoka deserved some leniency, as it had allowed time to wake up, whereas the other recruits had simply been hustled out of their rooms with barely time to don their uniforms before instructors had herded them towards the armory.

She had to admit, it was quite a professional affair, despite the fact that the cadets seemed to be as much schoolgirls as they did soldiers in the making. Even sleep deprived each of them had been in and out in no more than five minutes, with another five or so to finish strapping on the rather complex and various sets of armor. Some were even in full plate similar to that which the Valkyries wore, although most seemed to stick with leather or chain-mail. A few wore more traditional mage clothes, merely switching out their uniform cloak for a heavier duty cloak.

Reinforce and Nodoka had actually been the last ones out of the armory given that they'd been searching for spare gear that would fit her. All the while Nodoka had been explaining that while most of their defenses were powered by enchantments woven into the gear, the quality of the materials used provided a greater capacity for enchantment.

_Solid plate, while harder to move in, heavier, and generally requiring customization, holds the greatest capacity for enchantment, with rarer metals and alloys upping the 'enchantability' even further. Chain, a good substitute for plate, was cheaper, lighter and easier to move in. It couldn't contain as many defensive spells however, and provided less defense should the enchantments fail from overuse. Leather, especially dragonhide, was balanced, easy to move in, easy to maintain, and was surprisingly well suited to enchantment was the most common, and a good choice for all but those who required the greatest freedom of movement. Cloaks or robes provided next to no protection, but could be enchanted to help boost offensive abilities while having minor defensive additions. _She resisted the urge to cringe at the stupidly similar logic to video games that she'd seen Vita playing on Earth. _Sure! It's all very logical... but almost too much so. _

Thankfully, for her sanity, Nodoka had freely admitted that higher powered mages wore whatever they wanted, as they generally didn't require additional help, all of their defenses coming from their own skill or spells. A fact that would come in handy one of these days. She chuckled as she glanced over at the Valkyrie.

_Maybe even sooner than 'one of these days.' _Nodoka had proven... quite eager in regards to armor fashion. Something that Reinforce had never considered a priority, even after the recent experience with Hayate and her Knights' outfits. But Hayate hadn't been designing armor when she'd crafted the image. This was specifically armor for use in battle from the sounds of it, and yet Nodoka was frowning between leather breastplates of slightly different design, but seemed largely equally protective.

Knowing to keep her mouth shut rather than run the risk of getting a lecture on the fashion of armor of all silly things, she decided to keep her mouth shut, instead pulling on the heavy leather boots and fastening the greaves while she waited for Nodoka to finally choose. With a sniff, the shorter woman turned back holding both. "Sadly there wasn't a whole lot of choice for you. You're a bit better endowed than most of the younger girls who were really the target audience for the academy's armor. So, really the only choice you get in leather is these two. This one's got a wider range of motion at the shoulders, and is a bit thinner and softer for greater agility. The other is... well, a bit more protective. Which would you prefer?"

Reinforce managed to not sigh at the Valkyrie. She took a moment to finish tying a bracer around her right fore-arm. "You know, armor isn't really necessary for me. I do have a spell that serves as my armor."

"Bah! That argument. That black ensemble makes you look like a villain. Even if you don't need it, it's also for identification purposes. Now, quit arguing and make a decision before I make it an order cadet!"

She chuckled in reply. "Fine, fine, Sergeant, this cadet will take mobility, Sergeant!"

Nodoka simply chuckled before waiting for Reinforce to remove her tunic and slip the leather on. And then proceded to help her fasten everything before stepping away with an appraising frown. "Damn. That armor does flattering things for you."

The comment prompted a raised eyebrow at the bitter tinge to the tone. The Valkyrie simply chuckled and waved it off. "Sorry, old familial inferiority complex that's hounded us through the past century and a half. Don't worry about it. Now hurry up! We're already late."

The following hour had been fun, an instructor giving the both of them a dressing down for taking so long, although it had been... less caustic than it might have been after Nodoka's explanation that Reinforce hadn't had armor and they had to find her loaners. Then had come the briefing on what they were going to be doing.

Teleporting deep into a forest and making your way out of it without flight, no longer than seven hours permitted. Easy enough, until the creatures of the forest were explained. Some of them would take a full squad of cadets out if encountered unprepared. Not to mention dragons. Multiple species with various attributes that would make them difficult to deal with.

They'd been grouped randomly into squads, armaments distributed, and then teleported to their various starting locations. Nodoka had raised a questioning eyebrow when she'd noticed that Reinforce had failed to pick out a weapon. She'd chuckled when Reinforce had simply replied that she prefered to fight unarmed.

And then, they'd set out on the heading that they'd been assigned.

_0405 hrs_

Reinforce frowned as she crept forward, being careful to make as little noise as possible. So far it had seemed as if the forest was simply just a creepy dark forest, but given the wariness that even Nodoka was showing the further they went it was far better to keep aware.

It was comical though, the others in their squad were moving quietly, but they clearly hadn't practiced recently, as Reinforce didn't even need to glance their way to know exactly where they were. And of course, somehow, the Valkyrie in plate armor seemed to be the quietest of them all.

"How the hell are you being that quiet, Nodoka?"

The Valkyrie had simply shuddered, quite dramatically. "I was a member of the Rare Book Retrieval Squad... Some traps were sound activated in that library."

The response had... certainly not been what she was expecting. _What kind of a library needs traps?_ She pushed the thought away as she continued to scan her surroundings, deciding that asking that question could wait until another time.

A loud growl came from ahead, drawing her immediate attention as the cadet that had been on point scrambled back with an aborted cry of fear. The source of the growl made Reinforce's eyes widen. It looked like a dire lion of the likes she hadn't seen since the fall of the Empire. Just... bigger. Much bigger. She spared a glance at Nodoka as the others in her squad drew their weapons. "There's something just wrong about a lion the size of a transfer shuttle."

The Valkyrie only chuckled as she took a few steps back. "You cadets are on your own unless you get into too much trouble! If I help you, you'll fail this little exercise, and I don't think any of you want that!"

Reinforce only chuckled as she moved forward, joining the other cadets. She raised an eyebrow as she noticed that they seemed quite nervous. "What's the matter? It's just a big cat, right?"

Their reply was drowned out by a second angry roar from the beast, though she did hear them calling for her to stop as she continued walking towards the lion. It's eyes locked on her as she continued to approach, just as if she were taking a nice little stroll.

Eyes locked, feral aggression meeting a flat stare. The lion seemed a little confused by her behavior, though it came to a quick decision, lifting a paw that was nearly the same size as Reinforce. The cadets cringed, and even Nodoka tensed as she watched the scene unfolding, knowing that she wouldn't be able to intervene in time to keep her charge from being mauled.

The paw flashed down with all the power that the feline could bring to bear, to which Reinforce replied only by raising her hand, summoning a purple-black triangular shield to take the blow. The swipe was surprisingly heavy, Reinforce's eyes widening slightly as she let more mana flow, strengthening herself and the shield.

For its part, the lion seemed quite confused when its paw was stopped cold by the little creature that had wandered into its territory. It pulled back a moment, unprepared for what came next.

Reinforce released the shield as the pressure was removed, and looked to the bracelet. "Nacht, if you would please?"

She recieved no answer, save for the bracelet glowing, and growing, taking on it's weapon form. Taking a moment to glance at the rest of her squad, she was surprised by the fact that they appeared frozen in astonishment. _Huh. I guess I'm a little more powerful than average around here..._

_[The strength of their linker cores is much weaker than yours, Mistress.]_

Not bothering to take the time to reply to the voice of Nacht Klaue sounding in her thoughts, she pumped mana to her legs, using a spell she'd stolen from the young Testarossa, even if she wasn't able to attain the same sort of speed that the girl had, she was able to flash under the feline with a speed that drew gasps from her compatriots, and left the cat fumbling about, looking for where she went.

The method she used to inform the beast of where she was... was rather crude. She leapt up, a dark shooting spell forming ahead of Nacht Klaue's red tip, only for her to slam it into the creature's stomach with all the power she can muster, the black beam forcing its way through the creature, ripping through the forest canopy, before disappearing into the dark morning sky.

She flashed out from beneath as the lion was launched upwards some five meters before it fell to the forest floor, legs sprawling out in limp unconsciousness as she walked easily back to the other cadets. One managed to croak out a question, surprisingly more regarding how she managed to withstand the first blow, rather than how she'd rendered the creature unconscious with a single blow.

Reinforce cocked her head for a moment before she let out a little chuckle. "What, that little swipe? I've been hit harder by nine year old girls. This guy's just a big kitten compared to them."

Her companions simply blanched, save for the Valkyrie who simply laughed before responding. "Well, now I understand why you were saying that armor wasn't really necessary for you. You're one of those high level mages that wears whatever the heck they want to battle. You do realize though that this exercise is supposed to be you running away from the creatures, right? Nice punch, though. I haven't seen anything like that since the last time I saw Uncle Negi sparring with Evangeline."

"Ah? Sounds like I'll need to meet this Uncle and Evangeline." Nodoka gives a dark chuckle at Reinforce's reply.

"Uncle Negi has disappeared somewhere, and Evangeline... Well, given that you use dark magic, I'm not sure I'd want you to ever meet the premier dark mage... And she's scary, she might even take a liking to you and try to train you. Now come on, you need to get moving if you want to pass this little test! Quit gaping Cadets, just because she's strong doesn't mean you have to stare, get a move on!"

Holding in a chuckle, Reinforce turned her gaze to the other cadets most of whom looked away quickly in embarrassment before they started scrambling around the downed feline, eager to be out of the forest from the looks of it. _It's going to be a long morning._

_[Don't worry, Mistress. We can handle any of the creatures that come our way. Just don't get lost, and we'll pass easily.]_

She twitched at the voice, chuckling mentally as she realized that she'd likely seem to be neurotic the way she was always twitching. _Oi, Nacht. I thought I told you to not speak. We'll work together for now, but I'm not ready to be friends with you just yet. Plus, people will think I'm crazy the way hearing you makes me jump. Just keep it down for now, we'll get things figured out later._

The emotionless tone that followed was surprisingly good at transferring the weapon's resignation. _[Understood, Mistress. Though they probably already think you're crazy. Who steps in front of an angry beast many times their size like that?] _

She managed, somehow, to keep her growl within the confines of her own mind. _[... Sorry, Mistress. I will remain in weapon form for now, communications systems on standby.]_

_0800 hrs_

"Well, this isn't exactly how these exercises usually go."

_Nodoka's monotone... is perfect for understatement. _She chuckled as she rushed forward, dodging the tree-shattering claws that flashed down upon her. She watched as the Valkyrie, surprisingly nimble for as bulky as her armor looked, rolled forwards out of the way, somehow managing to come up at a dead run. "Oh? Running from dragons is rather good for evasion training, wouldn't you say? Territorial to the degree that they won't let you get away, various abilities to test your will to survive, I'd say they're perfect."

The replying chuckle was drowned out by the angered roar of the two dragons that were close on their heels. Nodoka had summoned a staff that she was using to weave between the trees, while Reinforce had called upon her six black wings and was darting forward at a reckless pace given the thickness of the forest.

Their squad had made it close to the edge of the forest, or so they believed at any rate, when they'd stumbled across two black dragons that had been competing rather fiercely. One of the others had squeaked, surprisingly drawing the attention of both dragons, who had abandoned their contest to chase after the invaders. Nodoka and Reinforce had split off from the rest of the squad to draw the dragons away, but that was as far as their plan had gotten. The trail of destruction being left in the wake of the chase was quite impressive.

What they hadn't expected however, was to stumble into an almost identical scene, though this time with a gryphon dragon and a yellow dragon fighting in another clearing. The ripping claws and gouts of flame were now joined by cutting winds and bolts of lightning.

"Can I start taking these things out rather than running from them?"

Even her shouts managed to maintain the calm monotone. "Go for the horns, break them and they'll run!"

"Understood, you get out of here, go find the rest of our squad and make sure they're safe."

"But!-"

Cutting off the Valkyrie's arguement, she continued. "Just go, I'll be fine. Blutiger Dolch!" She didn't wait for a reply as she rolled back, some fifty red daggers flashing into existence before they slashed out on seemingly random paths to stab into each of the dragons, save the gryphon, whose natural wind barrier blocked them. All of them roared with pain and anger at the damage they inflicted, heads swiveling as they snapped at the source of their agony as Reinforce twisted around and between them before climbing, breaking through the canopy.

A bolt of lightning crackled by while a stream of fire flashed past her, singing her side, bringing out a string of Belkan not to be used in polite company. She continued climbing, far faster than the dragons could follow, but summoned her knight armor, glaring down at the dragons with murder in her eyes.

Nacht Klaue was lifted, all four dragons slowing their progress as mana, both hers and ambient gathered before her, shining bright pink. "I summon the light of destruction down upon my foes. Stars, gather, and become the light which pierces everything. Tear through everything in a blaze of light." Reinforce paused taking a deep breath before she shouted, and swung her left arm down to release the spell.

"Starlight Breaker!"

The Gryphon dragon, and the yellow dragon proved nimble enough to avoid the massive beam that flashed down, though the black dragons weren't able to get out of it's path. The resulting shockwave as the beam hit the forest made Reinforce look more than just a little sheepish at the wanton destruction she'd caused, when precision would have been just as effective had she merely gone after the dragon's horns.

When the explosion faded, the black dragons seemed to have ceased to exist while the other two tumbled wildly, trying to maintain a more or less controlled flight. Neither seemed eager to continue attacking the thing that had just blown away several acres of forest, not to mention two of the more hardy species of dragons.

For her part, Reinforce was content to stare the dragons down, as they seemed to mull through an instinctive cost-benefit analysis of continuing to attack. Both reached the prudent decision and dove back into the forest in different directions, but both directly away from her.

"Hey, Nacht."

[Yes, Mistress?]

The train of thought had been derailed by the fact that the weapon had just answered in a way much closer to what she would have expected out the various weapons and devices she'd seen. She recovered quickly, no more than an extra beat before she continued.

"Do you think I used a bit more force than I should have? I figured that this world would have enough ambient mana for a weaker breaker... but I think I added my own reserves to it."

[To vaporize two dragons, you did, Mistress.] Sighing before she looked back down at the crater she'd left she pondered a moment longer.

"Next time, don't let me choose the spell when I'm angry." A quiet chuckle escaped her as the device gave a one word affirmative. The descent was a lazy one, slowly bleeding altitude as she contemplated how much trouble she would be in for the dragons, damage to the forest, as well as the fact that she'd broken the exercise's no flight rule.

There was little worry on her part in regards to the consequences, but she did dislike disappointing people, not to mention the fact that her actions would probably reflect poorly on both her squad and Nodoka. A flash of light appeared below her, a few blinks confirming that this world did indeed have transfer magics of a sort as the space she'd been intending on landing in, where several trees had been uprooted by the force of her spell, was suddenly filled with at least thirty Valkyries and a woman, perhaps thirty years of age at worst. The fiery hair color and the outfit that seemed to have been the result of a drunken night between a dress and a coat with the thigh-covering leggings thrown in for modesty's sake would have drawn attention in the midst of armored valkyries, but it was really the massive sword and the sheer power that was rolling off of her in quite-literal glowing waves that caused Reinforce's eyes to snap to her.

The 'cadet's' gaze was returned by a rather silly grin, with an eager sparkle in her heterochromatic eyes. The woman babbled something off in the language that seemed so common here, to which Reinforce could only reply apologetically in Japanese that she didn't understand a word.

"You must be the Cadet... Eins was it? That the Grandmaster was talking about! Now, where are the dragons? It's been far too long since I've gotten to play with them."

"Two," Reinforce broke off with a sheepish look, "Two of them have been vaporized, and the others were wise enough to stop chasing me."

"... Oh."

Never before had she seen someone look quite so much like a kicked puppy. The hurt expression on the woman's face almost made Reinforce want to apologize for having defended herself against the dragons. Far better to have been eaten than to put that sort of expression on a grown woman's face.

The woman quickly nodded as she forced her disappointment away. "Well, that's alright. There'll be plenty of time for me to go find a dragon... or maybe I'll just restrain myself to Megalomesembrian warships... Ah! Where are my manners, I'm Asuna, Princess of Vespertatia. Just call me Asuna though. I'm not big on formality unless I have to be."

_She seems... Formidable. Even if she's got a sort of ditzy aura. Royalty though, never underestimate them._ Hoping to make a better impression, she finished her descent, dismissing her wings as she stepped gently to the forest floor before kneeling before the Princess in the traditional Belkan style.

"Your Highness," she gave a little chuckle at the rather pointed look the princess was giving her, "Asuna, I am Cadet Reinforce Eins, though feel free to call me Reinforce, or even just Rein. I answer to both these days." Given the Princess' apparent dislike of formality, she rose up, with a nod of greeting.

"Nice to meet you, Rein! Now then, introductions are nice and all, but I did get orders from the Grandmaster to see to the safety of the cadets. So, off with you! The Valkyries are going to finish rounding everyone up and then we'll make our way back to the city. I'd like to talk more with you later on though, keep your schedule open this evening if you can!"

Without waiting for a reply, the princess darted off. _Darting... might not be completely accurate. She just moved faster than Testarossa ever did, perhaps even faster than some of the Sankt Kaisers._

Reinforce shrugged at the princess' action before following the Valkyries who were splitting up to round up the rest of the cadets.

_1435 hrs_

The journey back from the forest had been an interesting one. Both the Valkyries and the other cadets had been more than just a little interested in how she'd managed to vaporize two dragons while still just being a cadet. The questions had come hard and fast, none of the questioners giving her an opportunity to answer before the next was on her.

Eventually she'd managed to escape with just a simple claim that it was an original spell of hers, one that she didn't have any plans of teaching to anyone. The disappointment on a number of faces was obvious, but it wasn't likely that even any of the Valkyries would have the ability to cast a bombardment spell, even if they proved capable of using Mid-Childan magic at all.

Lunch was a thankfully quick affair, Nodoka doing a decent job of keeping the masses away with a special sort of look. It was the sort of assistance that would probably cost her in terms of having to answer the Valkyrie's questions when they came. _Though hopefully they'll just be asked by the Princess and I'll only have to answer them once._

She rolled onto her back, holding the book above her only half paying attention to the treatise on naval combat, written by the Empress Theodora. Naval warfare on Mundus Magicus wasn't quite what it was in the Belkan sense, but it was also exclusively intra-atmosphere, with ships that were generally less maneuverable. Hence the focus on almost planar slugging matches between fleets. Only the smaller vessels were capable of the sorts of rapid maneuvers that could flank another fleet, but they weren't capable of carrying enough ordinance to do real damage to capital ships. Hence the tactics were fairly simple, unless you had a mage capable of dealing real damage to a ship. Fortunately they were few and far between, so it was mostly a case of trying to outnumber your enemy or smashing their formation to break up their overlapping defenses.

Her Valkyrie keeper was sitting at the desk by the window, tapping out a report on a device that clearly wasn't from Mundus Magicus, given that holographic displays and keyboards weren't exactly common from what she'd seen of the area. Technology for the most part was absent, outside of the warships and civilian vessels that came and went on a regular basis through the skies above the city.

When she'd asked, Nodoka had simply said that it had been a gift from one of her aunts for her promotion to sergeant. And that it certainly beat writing reports by hand. She couldn't help but chuckle at that. Magic was so prevalent that technology hadn't really emerged in Mundus Magicus, where the opposite was clearly true of Mundus Vetus. At least a few technological enhancements had made their way into the magical world, but it appeared that no one had bothered attempting to mix them together.

Both of them jumped as a brilliant flash lit the sky like a second sun and set the window rattling violently. Nodoka's eyes went wide as she looked out the window.

"What is it, Nodoka?"

She didn't stop to respond, rising up out of her seat and summoning her armor. "A cruiser's been hit by something, I think we're under attack. Stay here, I'm going to see what's going on."

A second flash followed as Nodoka threw the door open, this one closer as the resulting shockwave shattered the windows rather than simply rattling them. Reinforce wasted no time in summoning her own Knight Armor to replace her uniform, leaving her weapon stored away for the moment.

The intercom let out a piercing warble before a heavily amplified voice followed. "Ariadne is under attack, all cadets fourth year and up are to report to their armories and prepare for combat. Instructors will provide further orders. All other cadets are to evacuate via the tunnels. This is not a drill."

"Go, Reinforce, I'll meet you down at the armory." Nodoka preempted the question that Reinforce had been about to ask. "You won't have to fight, just keep yourself safe. If any of the instructors give you any problems, your exempt from mobilization at the order of the Grandmaster."

_Like that'll stop them from trying. Not that such a thing would stop me from doing the same were the positions reveresed. _She only nodded and watched as the sergeant darted down the hall before Reinforce turned to go the opposite direction dashing down towards the armory, the shockwaves battering the academy coming only more frequently by the second.


End file.
